Otherness in the Fashion Industry

Let's talk about Otherness.

The promotion of women of colour, curvy, LGBTQ and elderly models in the fashion world, has

been on the rise, with their advancements publicised on British Vogue’s 2018 may issue and ANTMs Cycle 24, celebrating all four categories.

Now the question is; Are all these movements simply a reflection of our over accepting generation or is it the direction the industry wants to move towards, and the change we all want?

It’s both. What consumers want, is what media outlets put out, from designers to social media influencers - an unpopular opinion is; We get what we want whether the distributors want it or not.

Although It’ easy to dub the phenomenal change as a facade, it is still a progression from body shaming, ever so frequent yet notorious black face in Beauty and the notion that age and beauty can’t align. The standers in the industry have been set so high that some believe perfection is attainable.

But what we’re not going to do, is completely paint the entire industry in a bad light, we need to wake up as a society and realise that there will be photoshop and there will be editing and not let it cloud our judgement and expectations of what reality is.

Despite the critique that may come in the light of this revolution, young women and men need representation so they know its okay to be authentically them, and not strive to be what everyone else wants them to be.

Self-love is the most important part of that journey- yes, easier said than done, but by little things such as the people and things we see on a daily basis can have an incredibly positive impact on someone who constantly wollows in self-doubt.

To conclude, otherness is something you should be proud of, because as a wise woman once said; “If you got it, flaunt it. And if you don't got it? Flaunt it. Cause what are we even doing here if we’re not flaunting it?” [Mindy Kayiling]

Temilola Akinrele